Watson Century guides Australia to Champions Trophy Title, beat New Zealand by 6 wickets in Final

Shane Watson's back to back century helps Australia to their consecutive ICC Champions Trophy title, as they beat New Zealand in a low scoring final by 6 wickets with 28 balls remaining on October 5th at Centurion.

New Zealand without their captain Daniel Vettori made only 200/9 in 50 overs due to tight bowling by Australian pace bowlers Lee and Hauritz took 2 and 3 wickets respectively.

Ausstralia reduced to 6-2 in 3 overs but Watson and Cameron White (62 runs) put 128 runs for the 3rd wickets and ensures an easy win. Shane Watson scored unbeaten 105 runs competed his century by 2 sixes in last 2 balls of the innings hit 10 fours and 4 sixes.

Shane Watson won Man of the Match award his back to back award in Champions Trophy final. Ricky Ponting won the Golden Bat award as highest run scorer in the tournament with 288 runs in 4 games at an avg. of 72 and also won the Man of the Series award. south Africa's Wayne Parnell got Golden Ball award as highest wicket taker with 11 wickets in 3 matches.

Australia got a 2 Million USD as a winner prize.

Match Summary:

Australia 206 for 4 (Watson 105*, White 62, Mills 3-27) beat New Zealand 200 for 9 (Guptill 40, Hauritz 3-37, Lee 2-45) by six wickets

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Ind vs WI 12th Match Live Scorecard ICC Champions Trophy 2009 | India vs West Indie sLive Scorecard

India vs West Indies, 12th match of ICC Champions Trophy, is very important only if Pakistan beat Australia in the earlier match of the day on Wednesday, September 12 at New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg and the timing is 14:30 local, 12:30 GMT, 6.00 PM IST, 6.30 PM Pak Time.

India can go with four bowlers and Yusuf Pathan can come back in playing 11. Indian bowling is a disaster so far in the tournament.

India Team for ICC Champions Trophy 2009:

Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni(capt/wk), Yusuf Pathan/AmitMishra, Harbhajan Singh, RP Singh/Ishant Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Praveen Kumar.

West Indies Team for ICC Champions Trophy 2009:

Dale Richards, Andre Fletcher, Devon Smith, Travis Dowlin, Floyd Reifer (capt), Kieran Powerll, David Bernard, Chadwick Walton (wk), Darren Sammy, Kemar Roach, Nikita Miller.

India vs West Indies Live Score Card:

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Aus Vs Pak 11th Match Live Scorecard ICC Champions Trophy 2009 | Australia vs Pakistan

Pakistan, top team of Group A, will take on Australia in the 11 th game of Champions Trophy 2009 and the result of this match will decide the final team of the semi-finals on September 11, 2009. This important match will start at 09:30 local, 07:30 GMT, 1.30 PM IST, 2.00 PM Pak Time.

If Australia win they will qualify for the last four to join with Pakistan, New Zealand and England and if Pakistan win, then India have to beat West Indies by a good margin. The net run-rates of Australia and India appear vast: +1.00 for Australia, -1.08 for India.

Pakistan will rest some key players and Mohammad Asif will come back in the national team after 19 months. Australia will probably go with the same team.

Australia Team for ICC Champions Trophy 2009:

Shane Watson, Tim Paine (wk), Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Hussey, Callum Ferguson, Cameron White, James Hopes, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Nathan Hauritz, Peter Siddle.

Pakistan Team for ICC Champions Trophy 2009:

Misbah-ul-Haq, Kamran Akmal (wk), Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Yousuf, Younis Khan (capt), Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Asif, Saeed Ajmal, Umar Gul, Mohammad Aamer.

Pakistan vs Australia Live Commentary:

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SA Vs NZ 3rd Match Live Scorecard ICC Champions Trophy 2009 | South Africa Vs New Zealand

In the 3rd match of ICC Champions Trophy 2009, New Zealand will play against South Africa on Thursday, September 24th, 2009 at SuperSport Park, Centurion. This interesting match will start at 09:30 local, 07:30 GMT, 1.30 PM IST, 2.00 PM Pak Time.

South Africa already lost their opening match by Sri Lanka just 48 hrs back.The reason that South Africa hadn't played any competitive One Day International match for the last 5 months. It's time for Graeme Smith and his team to wake up.
New Zealand batsman played very well against India in their warm-up match, specially the both Martin Guptill (63) and Jesse Ryder (57) gave a strong base and with Neil Broom (66 off 46 balls) blasting batting to lead New Zealand score to 301. Shane Bond & Captain Denial Vettroi bowled very well against India.

South Africa Team for ICC Champions Trophy 2009:

Graeme Smith (capt), Johan Botha, Hashim Amla, Mark Boucher, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Albie Morkel, Makhaya Ntini, Wayne Parnell, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Roelof van der Merwe

New Zealand Team for ICC Champions Trophy 2009:

Daniel Vettori (capt), Neil Broom, Brendon Diamanti, Grant Elliott, Martin Guptill, Gareth Hopkins, Brendon McCullum, Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram Jeetan Patel, Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor, Daryl Tuffey, Shane Bond, Ian Butler

Watch Live Cricket Scorecard of South Africa Vs Sri Lanka

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Pakistan beat West Indies in ICC Champions Trophy | PAK bt. WI by 5 wickets | Tonge 4 – 25, Match Photo Highlights

Brief synopsis:
Pakistan 134 for 5 (Umar Akmal 41*, Tonge 4-25) beat West Indies 133 (Miller 51, Aamer 3-24, Gul 3-28) by five wickets

A low scoring game but Pakistan almost made a meal out of it, eventually it was too low a target for a team like Pakistan to miss out on.

A much better performance by the second string West Indies team with the bowl than the bat. Gavin Tonge bowled his heart out taking 4 wickets giving away just 25 runs in his 10 overs. Earlier West Indies crumbled to the young pace attack of Pakistan scoring just 133 runs. Umar Akmal shone with the bat for Pakistan scoring 41 and staying unbeaten.

Watch Match Photo Highlights of Pakistan vs West Indies:

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Yuvraj Singh Finger Injury Keeps Him out Champions Trophy | Yuvraj Singh out for 6 weeks

Bad news for India as they have to leave Yuvraj Singh out of the ICC Champions Trophy due to fractured finger. This is the second instance of fingers fracturing after the one we heard of Pakistan’s captain Younis Khan keeping out of the WI match in yesterdays tie.

Yuvraj’s absence will put another worry in the team management mind of surviving the challenge from other teams as they were already feeling the pinch of the absence of Virender Sehwag and now their most important middle order batsman / talented spinner has to bow out to injury. Injury is unpredictable and un-invited but the game has to go on. Virat Kohli the “replacement man“ has been roped in but does the big wigs of the Indian team have the confidence in him. Lets wait and watch

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Younis Khan Injured, Shahid Afridi Lead Pakistan side against West Indies

Younis Khan has injured his little finger (hairline fracture) on the right hand while fielding during the warm up match against Sri Lanka. Shahid Afridi gets to captain the side as Younis Khan misses the first match today between Pakistan and West Indies. Younis Khan will aim to play his next match against India.

Pakistan can afford to loose out on Younis Khan today as the West Indies looks to be a weaker side which has lost a bout of games against a lowly Bangladesh team.

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PAK Vs WI 2nd Match Live Scorecard ICC Champions Trophy 2009 | Pakistan Vs West Indies

In the 2nd match of ICC Champions Trophy 2009, Pakistan will take charge against West Indies on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 at New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg. This interesting match will start at 14:30 local, 12:30 GMT, 6.00 PM IST, 6.30 PM Pak Time.

Pakistan is a well balanced team and They have prooved when Pakistan won ICC Twenty20 World Cup just 2 months before. Pakistan won against Sri Lanka in his warm-up match. Opener Kamran Akmal, young Umar and expeperienced middle order batsman Misbah-ul-Haq all are in good form. Shahid Afridi will be captain and will lead his team against West Indies because captain Younis Khan who fractured his little finger during training. Pakistani bowlers also are much disciplined including Naved-ul-Hasan, Umar Gul and Mohammed Aamer and return of Mohammed Asif will improve Pakistan bowling attack.
West Indies has less experiecned & balanced team as compare to Pakistan because West Indies team has a fresh team and they already lost ODI and Test from a lower ranked Bangladesh team. The key players will be vice-captain Darren Sammy, opener Devon Smith and fast bowler Tino Best. West Indies captain, 37-year old Floyd Reifer is an experienced domestic cricketer.

Pakistan Team for ICC Champions Trophy 2009:

Imran Nazir, Misbah-ul-Haq, Umer Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi(C), Rana Naved-ul Hasan, Fawad Alam, Mohammad Yousuf, Kamran Akmal(WK), Umar Gul, Mohammad Aamir, Mohammad Asif, Rao Iftikhar, Saeed Ajmal

West Indies Team for ICC Champions Trophy 2009:

Floyd Reifer (C), Darren Sammy, David Bernard, Tino Best, Royston Crandon, Travis Dowlin, Andre Fletcher, Nikita Miller, Kevin McLean, Kieran Powell, Dale Richards, Kemar Roach, Devon Smith, Gavin Tonge, Chadwick Walton

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Sri Lanka defeat South Africa in ICC Champions Trophy 1st Match | SL win by 55 runs (D/L) against SA | Photo Highlights

A impressive showing of Sri Lanka batting prowess; led well from the start by Tillakaratne Dilshan scoring 106 in 92 balls and getting good support from fellow batsmen in Kumara Sangakkara (54) and Mahela Jayawardene (77). South Africa won the toss and the dewy nature of the pitch enticed Smith to bowl first. The toss and Jayasurya wicket went his way but after that the entire game was in Sri Lankas hand. Dilshan showed all the South African bowlers the boundary.

The rain came down midway during South Africas inning, and it an ways was a relief for SA as they had lost all their top order. South Africa found it difficult to understand Ajantha Mendis deliveries who went ahead to claim 3 vital wickets including the Smith and Jacques Kallis who were forming into a good partnership.

So Sri Lanka pleased to stay ahead in the points table by defeating the top ranked team in ODI and now has a much better chance of qualifying to the next round of the tournament.

Match Synopsis:
Sri Lanka 319 for 8 (Dilshan 106, Jayawardene 77, Sangakkara 54) beat South Africa 206 for 7 (Smith 58, Mendis 3-30) by 55 runs (D/L)

Rain interrupts match and the match is handed over to Sri Lanka with the help of D/L method

Malinga is thrilled after taking the wicket of AB Devilliers

Mendis ran through South Africa's Top order, claiming wickets of Smith, Kallis and Duminy

A slimmer Kallis looked in good nick, but couldnot hold on longer

Amla cleaned up early in the game.

Smith had some hefty blows, but failed to lift the team to win the game

Jayawardene blasted the SA bowling with 77 valuable runs.

Dilshan is all joy after reaching the 100 runs landmark

Sangakara provided good support to Dilshan.

Dilshan was the hero of the day with a superb century

Steyn enjoyed his wicket of Jayasurya but his happiness ended soon as SL piled up a huge score

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SA Vs SL 1st Match Live Scorecard ICC Champions Trophy | South Africa Vs Sri Lanka

The Champions Trophy 2009 battle will begin with the opening match between host South Africa and Sri Lanka at SuperSport Park, Centurion, 14:30 local, 12:30 GMT, 6:00 PM IST, 6:30 PM Pak Time.

South Africa won the inaugural ICC Champions Trophy back in 1998. The team hasn't played One Day International cricket for the last 5 months and so it could be a problem in the initial stages. Although South Africa won against West Indies in warm-up match by 188 runs. Their Batting line-up totally dependent on Kallis, Smith & Duminy. They all scored 80's to lead South Africa to a total of 388 runs. Spinner Roelof van der Merwe is in good form as well, having taken four wickets in the warm up match against the West Indies.
Sri Lanka, on the other hand, defeated by 102 runs by Pakistan in their warm up match. Their bowling department is looking a weak point as the Pakistani batsmen were allowed to come back from 64-3 to put up a total of 307. This the second consecutive match where the Sri Lanks's bowlers have given away more than 300 (India scored 319 in the final of the Compaq Cup). The famous Sri Lanka's batting order failed against Pakistan and now They will have to face South Africa's expereinced pace bowlers Makhaya Ntini and Dale Steyn.

South Africa Team for ICC Champions Trophy 2009:

Graeme Smith (C), Johan Botha, Hashim Amla, Mark Boucher(WK), AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Herschelle Gibbs (injured for first match), Jacques Kallis, Albie Morkel, Makhaya Ntini, Wayne Parnell, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Roelof van der Merwe

Sri Lanka Team for ICC Champions Trophy 2009:

Kumar Sangakkara (C/WK), Sanath Jayasuriya, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Upul Tharanga, Mahela Jayawardene, Thilan Samaraweera, Chamara Kapugedara, Angelo Mathews, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ajantha Mendis, Thilan Thushara, Nuwan Kulasekara, Dhammika Prasad, Lasith Malinga, Thilina Kandamby

Watch Live Cricket Scorecard of South Africa Vs Sri Lanka

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India Loose Against New Zealand in First Warmup Match ICC Champions Trophy 2009 | NZ Beat IND

Before ICC Champions Trophy 2009, ICC had scheduled some warm matches on 18th & 20th September 2009. New Zealand defeated India by 103 runs in the first warm up match of India at Potchefstroom. Thus New Zealand took its revenge of the defeat in the lately ended Compaq Cup in Sri Lanka.

New Zealand batsman played very well specially the both Martin Guptill (63) and Jesse Ryder (57) gave a strong base and with Neil Broom (66 off 46 balls) blasting batting to lead New Zealand score to 301. Shane Bond & Captain Denial Vettroi bowled very well against India.
Some bright spots were noticed: Abhishek Nayar (41) was quite impressive in batting. Amit Mishra & Yousuf Pathan bowled very ecnomically. But still India's bowling is a weaklink and needs drasticall improvement to stage a real challenge to the other Teams.

In other warm matches, Sri Lanka won against West Indies by 5 wickets at Pretoria. Pakistan won against Warriors by 6 wickets at Bennoi.

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Indian Team for Champions Trophy - Ind Squad for Champions Trophy 2009

India just won the Compaq Cup tri-series in Sri Lanka and selectors kept the same team for Champions Trophy in South Africa. Good news for India is that, Gautam Gambhir will be available for the tournament who missed Compaq Cup due to injury.

Indian Team for Champions Trophy:

MS Dhoni (Captain)

Yuvraj Singh

Rahul Dravid

Gautam Gambhir

Sachin Tendulkar

Yusuf Pathan

Suresh Raina

Abhishek Nayar

Dinesh Karthik

Praveen Kumar

Amit Mishra

Ashish Nehra

Harbhajan Singh

Ishant Sharma

RP Singh

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Australia Team for Champions Trophy - Aus Squad for Champions Trophy 2009

Australia after early exit in T20 world Cup, and Ashes series lost, bounced back by winning ODI series with a big margin against England. Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Shane Watson and new Keeper Tim Paine are in good form.

Australian Team for Champions Tophy:

Ricky Ponting (capt)

Michael Clarke

Adam Voges

Shane Watson

Cameron White

James Hopes

Michael Hussey

Brad Haddin (wk)

Nathan Bracken

Callum Ferguson

Ben Hilfenhaus

Mitchell Johnson

Brett Lee

Peter Siddle

Nathan Hauritz

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Team India leaves for Champions Trophy in South Africa, India Team Photos

Team India gear up for a tough competition in the Champions Trophy in South Africa. Placed in the same group as that of Australia, Pakistan & West Indies, team India will have to go all guns blazing in every department of the game.

Pictures of Indian team at Mumbai Airport preparing for their departure to South Africa.

The maestro Sachin Tendulkar arrives at th mumbai airport and greeted by flashing cameras. the little master will be the most watched cricketer in this Champions Trophy

Youth power! Suresh Raina, Amit Mishra & Yusuf Pathan - a lot depends on this trio

Rahul Dravid is all excited to display his mettle in the Champions Trophy

MS Dhoni is led by security personnel at the Mumbai Airport, as team India prepare to leave for South Africa

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Pakistan Team for Champions Trophy - Pak Squad for Champions Trophy 2009

Pakistan eying for ICC Champions Trophy which was originally planning to be held in Pakistan in 2008 after winning T20 world cup 2 months ago. Younis Khan will lead the team while t20 captain Shahid Afridi will be his deputy.

Pakistan Team for Champions Tophy:

Younis Khan (c)

Shahid Afridi (vc)

Fawad Alam

Imran Nazir

Shoaib Malik

Umar Akmal

Misbah-ul-Haq

Mohammad Yousuf

Kamran Akmal (wk)

Mohammad Asif

Mohammad Aamer

Naved-ul-Hasan

Iftikhar Anjum

Saeed Ajmal

Umar Gul

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West Indies Team for Champions Trophy - WI Squad for Champions Trophy 2009

Dispute between West Indies players association and selection board continues as selectors announced 2nd string team for Champions Trophy 2009. ICC has allowed some flexibility to change the team and include senior players in the team.

West Indies Team for Champions Tophy:

Floyd Reifer (c)

Darren Sammy (vc)

David Bernard

Tino Best

Royston Crandon

Travis Dowlin

Andre Fletcher

Nikita Miller

Daren Powell

Kieran Powell

Dale Richards

Kemar Roach

Devon Smith

Gavin Tonge

Chadwick Walton (wk)

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South Africa Team for Champions Trophy - SA Squad for Champions Trophy 2009

South African selectors announced 15 members team for 2009 Champions Trophy at home and will try hard to get rid of 'Chokers' tag. Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Robin Peterson has been included in the ODI team under Graem Smith.

South Africa Team for Champions Tophy:

Graeme Smith (capt)

Johan Botha

Hashim Amla

Mark Boucher (wk)

AB de Villiers

JP Duminy

Herschelle Gibbs

Jacques Kallis

Albie Morkel

Makhaya Ntini

Wayne Parnell

Robin Peterson

Dale Steyn

Lonwabo Tsotsobe

Roelof van der Merwe

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Sri Lanka Team for Champions Trophy - SL Squad for Champions Trophy 2009

Sri Lankan selectors announced the 15 members Sri Lankan squad for 2009 Champions Trophy under the captaincy of wicket keeper Kumara Sangakkara. Angelo Mathews good show with the ball will give a tough task to select 2nd spinner with Muralitharan.

Sri Lanka Team for Champions Tophy:

Kumar Sangakkara (c)

Sanath Jayasuriya

Tillakaratne Dilshan

Upul Tharanga

Mahela Jayawardene

Thilan Samaraweera

Chamara Kapugedera

Angelo Mathews

Muttiah Muralitharan

Ajantha Mendis

Thilan Thushara

Nuwan Kulasekara

Dammika Prasad

Lasith Malinga

Thilina Kandamby

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England Team for Champions Trophy - Eng Squad for Champions Trophy 2009

England after loosing the ODI series to Australia has a tough task in 2009 Champions Trophy will be without their star batsman Kevin Pietersen who is out due to injury while Andrew Flintoff will be available for the tournament.

England Team for Champions Trophy 2009:

Andrew Strauss (c)

James Anderson

Ravi Bopara

Tim Bresnan

Stuart Broad

Paul Collingwood

Joe Denly

Andrew Flintoff

Eoin Morgan

Matt Prior (wk)

Adil Rashid

Owais Shah

Ryan Sidebottom

Graeme Swann

Luke Wright

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NZ Team for Champions Trophy - New Zealand Squad for Champions Trophy 2009

New Zealand has announced thier ODI team for 2009 Champions trophy in South Africa from Septemper 22. New Zealand team will be led by all rounder Daniel Vettori.

New Zealand Team for Champions Tophy:

Daniel Vettori (c)

Ian Butler

Brendon Diamanti

Grant Elliott

Jesse Ryder

Ross Taylor

Martin Guptill

Gareth Hopkins (wk)

Brendon McCullum (wk)

Kyle Mills

Jacob Oram

Jeetan Patel

Shane Bond

Neil Broom

Daryl Tuffey

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